long, long, looooooong weekend

Well, where to start...

Friday, I took the day off so that we could get ready to go and get the kids from West Virginia. They had been there for the last 4 weeks visiting there Dad (I'm step-dad, in case I haven't mention that before). Friday, was planned to be just a leisurely drive to West Virginia and then we would spend a night. The drive out there was great. We stopped on the way to pick up sign's for my wife new business, Parti Gras Face Painting. She worked out a deal with a local Kinko's and they made the 3x5 banner for free. She was so excited. I'm proud of her, I would like things to be moving a little faster but I am very proud or her. Before we know it we were pulling into the hotel in Fairmont, WV. We checked in and got ready to get some dinner. We went to a great little diner in the same parking lot of the hotel. The food was good and it had a great 50's vibe. We really must be getting old we were back at the hotel and in bed by 10 PM (could also be that Fairmont is a really small town).

Saturday, the day started off good. We got up and had breakfast at the same diner and then got on the road. We call the kids and let them know that we were 2 hours away and to start saying their "Goodbyes" so that we could get back on road once we got there. The drive to the Davis,WV through the mountains was like photographic torture. Now, I know that sounds rough, but we had a time frame and I couldn't stop at every thing I wanted to photograph. I was like a kid going, look, look, look, did you see that. I know that I was getting annoying. Jennifer put up with a smile and I love her for it. We got there to pick up the kids and guess what? They were not ready. I wasn't surprised but I had to keep it to myself. After an hour of getting them ready we decided that we would go to the falls in a the near-by national park. OK, I was OK with this because I could take pictures. I thought after the hour there we would be on the road, but I was wrong. We had to go see another member of their family to say another "goodbye". We finally got on the road around a 1:45 PM and
this is not a good time if you want to be home on Saturday. See, if I didn't have to be at work on Sunday morning, we would have simply gotten a hotel and finished the drive on Sunday. The drive home was further complicated by the fact that my lovely step-daughter was taking it a little rough that her dad was staying in West Virginia. She was very talkative at first but became very quiet. About the time we decided that we were going to get a lunch she was crying uncontrollably. The crying didn't stop the rest of the day. This made for a very difficult drive home. I felt horrible for her but there was nothing that I could do to make her feel better. My step-son is a different story. He is the ruler of his world and all you have to do is ask him and he will tell you it is true. He has to disagree with everything that I say and fight me every chance he gets. I did everything I could just to avoid conflict with him. So despite all of the challenges, we did finally make it home at 1:30 AM.

Lucky, I'm the manager and I have enough flexiblity in my schedule, so that I could go in and do what needed to be done and then leave at noon.

I know that not much photography in this post but I just needed to get this rambling off my chest. Thanks for listening.